Slipping By
by spoodle monkey
Summary: In three months, twenty two days and nine hours he'll be getting married. ConnorStephen, ConnorAbby, mention of JennyOC Slash- set season two


Disclaimer: Nope, don't own

A/N- set sometime in season two.

* * *

"She's what you want?"

"Yes."

"Forever?"

The answer takes longer in coming.

DI

He's only been to one wedding in his entire life and even then he was only twelve. So…he's not really sure how exactly he should be acting or what he should be doing. All he does know is that in three months, twenty two days and nine hours he'll be standing in front of a Priest. He's not sure how he feels about this.

Connor's not sure how these things work (he can build an anomaly tracker out of spare parts he has lying around but give him a wedding and he's clueless) but everything feels kind of rushed. He's just not sure who to talk to about it because Jenny and Abby seem to have bonded over the experience and Nick seems to have disappeared and well Stephen- he just can't ask Stephen.

He's pretty much on his own for this one.

DI

Of course they still have to go to work.

Long, hard days filled with running around the country side (or wherever else an anomaly has popped up) and saving people. Sometimes Connor wonders why the people they rescue don't just _run_ at the first sign of danger or trouble. He wonders why they stay.

He doesn't like to admit how often he thinks about it. Running, that is.

Connor and Abby tend to attract trouble more often than not, so Nick splits them up, taking Abby with himself and Jenny and sending Connor with Stephen with strict instructions to not get into trouble.

Connor briefly feels sorry for the next few hours of wedding talk Cutter will have to endure (then thanks whoever is listening for his own brief reprieve. The wedding is beginning to get to him).

So he and Stephen set off through the woods, searching for this anomaly that has been spotted. Local hikers found it accidentally, but hadn't been able to tell them where it was when they'd asked. Maybe they'd get lucky this time, maybe nothing would come through.

Stephen finally breaks the silence, eyes trained on the trees around them as they walk. He asks, casually, about wedding plans and food and if they have a DJ yet.

Connor stops mid step and stares at his friend because for the first time he has realized that he has no idea. Abby had been planning the entire thing and hadn't really told him anything and for awhile he had been okay with it.

"I-I don't know." He stammers, feeling oddly panicked over the simple fact that he doesn't even know what type of _music_ they're going to play. He and Abby have different tastes in music.

His friend stares at him, an odd expression on his face before reaching out with his free hand and clapping him on the shoulder. Stephen's hand is warm and heavy on him, burning its touch through his shirt. He reluctantly pulls away as they continue through the trees.

DI

He and Abby have fought before but not quite like this. He's not really sure what to do.

Connor leaves the empty apartment they share and walks aimlessly until he finds himself knocking on a familiar door.

Stephen doesn't look that surprised to see him; apparently word spreads fast but at least he knows that Abby's safe at Jenny's for now.

"All couples fight." Connor defends. Stephen offers him a seat on the couch then wanders into the little kitchenette to make them both coffee.

"I know." Comes the reply.

"We both just need to cool off a bit." The familiar sounds of Stephen puttering around the kitchen calm him; lull him into a light doze. He hadn't realized how tired he was.

"Connor," Stephen wakes him a little while later with a soft voice and a hand on the back of his neck; it warms him. "Here." He takes the cup of coffee and tries to wake himself.

"I love her." Connor says truthfully and Stephen pulls away to sit on a chair close by instead of next to him on the couch. It leaves him confused. His friend nods and takes a sip from his own mug.

They settle into a comfortable conversation and Abby and work isn't mentioned for the rest of the night. He dozes off again with a movie playing in the background, only waking briefly when Stephen drapes a blanket over him.

"Good night, Connor." He hears the whisper, gets the feeling he wasn't meant to. A hand brushes his bangs off his face and he turns into the touch, only barely awake. The hand pauses, then returns, brushing over his cheek carefully before leaving completely. He misses it immediately.

Then Stephen is gone and he drifts back off to sleep.

DI

He needs a tux, he discovers. This is rather awkward as he doesn't actually like tux's, let alone look good in one. He asks Abby if he can just forgo the whole tux 'thing' but she just stares at him until he decides that he's obviously made some error and just shuts up.

This means he has to go out and get a tux. Or rent one. Probably rent one- he doesn't make _that_ much and when is he ever going to wear it again? Of course, Abby seems to be going all out on her wedding dress but he doesn't think she has actually bought it yet. For some reason this makes him feel relieved.

Stephen and Nick go with him. He stands up on some box like thing while an elderly woman flits around him taking measurements and 'tutting' under her breath about how thin he is. He's actually a little mortified. Stephen finds the entire thing rather funny, coming up behind him at one point and placing his hands on Connors hips, commenting rather loudly about how skinny he is.

Nick rolls his eyes and goes back to the magazine he was reading. Connor's breath catches in his throat at the sight in the mirror. Stephen stands slightly taller than him, with his hands on Connor's waist; they look good together.

Stephen's laughter quiets down until it slowly dies off as he catches sight of their reflection as well. His eyes meet Connor's in the mirror and holds the gaze, neither willing to move away. (How long could they stay like this?)

It would take no effort to lean back against Stephen's chest.

Then the elderly lady is back, shooing Stephen back to where Nick is sitting and Connor tries to remember how to breathe.

DI

"Wedding's are so exciting." Connor glances up from the book he's reading to where Jenny is leaning across his desk.

"I guess." He shrugs and makes to go back to his book.

"I mean there's so much to do and plan." He sighs internally and closes his book, carefully marking the page. It doesn't look like he's going to be doing much reading. "I'm still planning my own wedding."

He remembers being told in passing one day that Jenny was married. He hadn't given it much thought since, but maybe he could get some advice on it from her.

"Is your fiancé excited about your wedding?" He asks, slightly nervous.

"Oh yeah- we just set our date too but he's been great about it!" His stomach sinks slightly at this new information. He's not nearly as excited about this wedding as most people he talks to. Jenny seems to notice his distinct lack of enthusiasm and continues on quickly. "But I know a ton of people that weren't excited at first, it just takes time."

He stares blankly at where she has reached out to give his hand a comforting squeeze and then watches as she turns and walks away. Its okay then, it's just going to take some time for him to become excited like everyone else.

As he continues to repeat this he returns to his book, but finds he can't focus on it anymore.

DI

They fight again. This time, Connor's not even sure what it's over. He tries to compliment her, tries to admit that she's right (though he's not sure about what) and to get her to stop yelling but Abby eventually storms out.

He's left standing, once again, in an empty apartment.

Stephen lets him in silently, taking note of the duffle bag with a raised eyebrow. Connor just needs some time away.

The wedding is approaching faster and faster.

He's only gotten drunk a few times in his life, and it doesn't take much. An hour later he's sunk as far as he can into Stephen's couch, with his friend sprawled out next to him. They're laughing so hard that Connor has stitches in his side and tears slipping from his eyes. Stephen doesn't appear to be doing much better. He can't remember the last time he was this happy; it certainly hasn't been in the past couple of months.

He pauses at the thought, hazy brain trying to put together the thought as Stephen stumbles to his feet and to the kitchen to make them popcorn.

He hasn't laughed this hard in months, since the beginning of his relationship with Abby; his incredibly rushed relationship with Abby. They rushed through dating, rushed through a proposal and now they were rushing through a wedding and he wasn't even sure why anymore.

Stephen returns with a bowl of popcorn, large smile pasted on his face and a bottle of some sort of alcohol in his other hand. Connor returns the grin, deciding that he's glad to be here with Stephen instead of at home, sitting around in the quiet with Abby and gestures for his friend to join him again.

And if when Stephen sits on the couch, they end up sitting pressed together, with Connor's head slipping to rest on his friends shoulder- then no one needs to know.

DI

"So…" They're sitting in an empty diner, waiting for Nick to call about another anomaly and the really big reptile they're tracking. Abby and Connor had been squabbling, so he'd sent them to watch the anomaly that had appeared behind the counter of a fifties diner. The owner has long since left.

"Why can't we stop fighting?" Abby asks quietly. Connor wants to ask why she can't stop _picking_ on him for lack of a better term. Every time he turns around she's out to get him. He's spent the past week camped out on Stephens couch.

"I don't know." He answers truthfully. (Except maybe a small part of him knows.)

"Are we still friends?" She asks. Maybe that's the problem. She was his best friend. They haven't been best friends for months.

"Yeah," he answers a small smile making its way onto his face because maybe now everything is starting to make sense. "But we haven't been best friends for awhile now."

Her face falls slightly at this, her hands toying with the mug of lukewarm coffee they managed to make. Her coffee is nothing like Stephens.

"I miss you." And he knows what she means. He misses her too.

"Maybe it's time to fix things then." They both know how.

DI

About forty minutes later they meet up with the rest of the group; then a whole group of lizard things show up and they get split up.

Connor and Stephen end up stuck up a tree at one in the morning. It's certainly not how he pictured he'd be spending his night, although with this job, it never is. There's a branch digging into his back, he's not entirely fond of heights and there's the impending fear that these _things_ know how to climb and they'll end up the lizards late night snack, but he honestly can't think of anyone else he'd rather be stuck up a tree with. (Except perhaps Captain Britain, but hey- if he were there, then they wouldn't be stuck up a tree in the first place.)

"This sucks." Connor mumbles, shifting to see if perhaps the lizard-thing has left, when suddenly his feet slip and he looses his balance and he's falling. Panic shoots through him like electricity and he flails, trying to catch something, _anything_, to stop his descent, but his fingers miss the next branch by inches.

He's jolted as something grabs him by the front of his shirt, hauling him forwards and onto another branch to collide with someone warm. His breath is coming out in quick little gasps and he's dimly aware that he's close to hyper ventilating but in all fairness, he was nearly turned into breakfast so he figures he's allowed.

"Connor…" Stephen's arms are wrapped tight around him; their chests are pressed flush against one another with Connor resting awkwardly between Stephen's legs but he doesn't want to move. He's clinging just as tightly to his friend, listening as his own wild heart beat mixes with the other mans.

He hiccups lightly, which startles him, because he hadn't been aware that he was this scared. They got into bad situations all the time, when had he convinced himself that they weren't going to get out of this one?

Stephen presses his face into Connor's neck and they just sit there, listening to the inhuman growling coming from below.

"Connor…I…" He pulls back from the embrace slightly to see his friend's face; there's barely enough light from the moon but what he can see is…

Then there's yelling and bright lights from cars and the familiar sound of tranquilizer guns and the next thing he knows Nick is yelling up to them that the area is secured and it's safe to come down. It looks like the cavalry has arrived.

Connor doesn't want to get down.

Up in the trees where they're hidden from their team mate's prying eyes, they reluctantly begin to pull away from one another.

"Stephen," He begins as Stephen steps to another branch and reaches out to help him. His friend pauses, his hand out stretched and Connor's not quite sure how to say exactly what he means. He reaches out and grasps Stephen's hand instead, squeezing briefly and stepping towards him.

DI

"Do you love me?"

"Yes."

"I love you too." There's a long pause as they stand there and try to decide what to say next.

"Are we sure we want to do this?"

"Yes."

"Alright then." Connor smiles and for the first time in awhile his smile isn't as fragile. "I've missed you." Abby reaches out and pulls him into a hug, placing the ring in his hand when she pulls back.

"I've missed you too, Connor." He slides the ring into his pocket and decides to sell it first thing in the morning. In the meantime he has a stack of movies and his best friend back.

DI

"Morning." Stephen glances up from the gun he's cleaning as Connor ambles over to the truck. For once they have an easy mission- just a routine check of an anomaly but it looks like nothing has come through. Nick and Jenny have yet to arrive and Abby is still back at their car going through her back pack.

Connor holds out the coffee in his hand with a flourish; Stephen pauses, then sets the gun and his cleaning tools to the side and accepts the coffee, moving over so Connor can sit next to him.

"You seem happy." His friend comments idly, taking a careful sip of the hot beverage. Connor knows that it's exactly how he likes it. He grins, feeling an odd excitement buzz through him. He probably should feel a little sad or depressed or something but instead it just feels like this huge weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

"It's going to be a good day." He predicts, tilting back to look up at the sky. There are a few clouds but summer's coming and the day is warm.

"Really now?" Stephen looks amused, glancing up and spotting Abby as she makes her way towards the car. "Looks like you two are back to being blissful lovebirds." His face is carefully neutral but Connor can hear the bitterness that leaks into his friend's voice.

"Oh, not at all." He tells him cheerfully, waving at their blonde friend as she settles down on a patch of grass just out of hearing distance. She whips a book out, relaxing, even as she waves back. "Definitely not lovebirds."

Stephen shoots him a confused look, glancing between the two as though it were some private joke, and Connor thinks mildly, perhaps it is.

"So, I bought you coffee." His friend looks like he's considering checking Connor into the hospital soon if he doesn't start making sense. It makes him want to laugh; he holds it in, barely, at least until he can share the joke with him. "Which means you owe me a movie."

"A movie." He nods. Stephen looks from him to Abby and back again, a hesitant smile on his face. "And what type of movie would this be?"

"The proper kind," Connor lets his face slip into a seriousness that he's not feeling and fights down the smile that he's holding in. "With dinner before and possibly some sort of chocolates and if you're lucky then a goodnight kiss."

His friend goes from shocked to confused to pleased in a matter of seconds.

"So you and Abby then…?" Stephen asks, clarifying that what Connor is offering is what he thinks Connor is offering.

"There won't be a wedding." Connor confirms, softer this time.

"Ah, pity." Stephen says, but there's a smile on his lips. "You don't look half bad in a tux."

"There will be other opportunities to see me dress like a penguin." Connor jokes, nudging him with his shoulder. Nick's car pulls up at the edge of the clearing, so they both stand and about to join Nick and the others; Connor reaches out and squeezes his friend's hand. It's a promise, for what- he's not sure, but a promise nonetheless. Stephen smiles and squeezes back.


End file.
